The Trump administration may be about to launch a major challenge to sanctuary cities in the Bay Area. (KGO-TV )

KGO

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO --

The Trump administration may be about to launch a major challenge to sanctuary cities in the Bay Area. There's a report U.S. immigration agents are preparing to conduct major sweeps against undocumented immigrants.

San Francisco and the Bay Area are expected to be the center of this raid, an area that has frustrated President Donald Trump because of sanctuary city laws in place.

ICE agents raided 7-Eleven stores last week looking for illegal immigrants. But the upcoming sweep is expected to be much bigger. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, federal agents will be looking to arrest 1,500 people in Northern California, but mostly in the Bay Area. The Chronicle is quoting an anonymous source familiar with the operation who says it is planned to take place within weeks.

Those who have criminal records and those who have been served final deportation papers will be the focus, but if they come across other undocumented immigrants during the raid they could be taken into custody too.

An official with ICE told ABC7's sister station KGO-TV he cannot speculate about future operations. The source who knows about the operation says ICE agents from across the country will be flown in to help with the sweep.

ICE agents are looking to arrest at least 1,500 people in San Francisco and other Northern California cities in the next few weeks, plus, another round of rain starts tomorrow in the Bay Area.